The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack/Overview
The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack is an American animated television show created by Thurop Van Orman. It currently airs reruns on the revived block "Cartoon Planet". Background and Premise As a child, show creator Van Orman lived in Panama City, Florida, and "used to fantasize about living near the dock and having adventures all the time." When he was 13, his family moved to Utah, but Van Orman still dreamed of adventure. He worked after school as a janitor, saving money for a plane ticket back to Florida. There, he packed some rice and potatoes, and paddled a surfboard to Shell Island. He planned to live off sea urchins and "even speared a manta ray," but things soon went sour. Eventually he became badly sunburned and began to starve. He returned to the mainland, but later tried again: he "went to Mexico and lived in the jungles and found himself eating out of dumpsters." Orman took his failures in stride, chalking all these bad circumstances up as "part of the adventure". The original take of the theme song for the show aired a select few times. Although it is not confirmed that he composed it, Modest Mouse singer Isaac Brock provided vocals for this original version. Van Orman attempted to pitch the concept to Cartoon Network in 2001. He created a short and incorporated many childhood favorites, with visual inspiration from older adventure novels. His first pitch was rejected, but he received a lot of feedback and re-pitched the concept in 2003. The series works with Screen Novelties to produce the stop-motion and title card portions of the show. Paul Reubens was originally selected to be the voice of Flapjack, but when Reubens did not show up on the day of recording, Van Orman himself decided to voice Flapjack. The series came to an end on August 31, 2010, after 46 episodes. The final episode entitled "Fish Out of Water" included live action sequences and featured an appearance by creator Thurop Van Orman, and his son Leif, who played Flapjack. Plot and Setting The series revolves around Flapjack and Cap'n K'nuckles. Flapjack is a young boy raised by a talking whale named Bubbie. Flapjack leads a peaceful life until the duo rescues a pirate by the name of Cap'n K'nuckles, who tells Flapjack of a place called Candied Island, which is made completely of candy. Inspired by the adventurous pirate, Flapjack, Cap'n K'nuckles and Bubbie get into strange predicaments and "misadventures" in search of candy, Candied Island and the coveted title of "Adventurer". The three spend most of their time in Stormalong Harbor, their place of residence, and home to many strange characters. Most characters live in the fictional city of Stormalong Harbor. The city is built on a series of docks in the middle of the ocean with no surrounding land. It is possible to actually swim underneath the city, which is often done by Bubbie. However, Stormalong has a sewer system and a series of underground tunnels. Most inhabitants are sailors of some sort, and sailors and/or pirates are constantly visiting from other lands. Stormalong has a great variety of (often bizarre) shops, including a bar that serves candy instead of alcohol (The Candy Barrel). The wealthier citizens live on more elevated piers, while the lower class lives lower in the city, both figuratively and literally. The city appears to be relatively dystopian, with a large level of crime and loitering, with the only forms of law enforcement being the dock hag and a relatively small police force. Trivia *Flapjack was originally voiced by Paul Reubens. However, Reubens never showed to any recording sessions and was later fired by Thurop Van Orman.